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Which team do you support these days?
Following on from my "can't be arsed anymore" thread, I was wondering which team you guys support these days and why. Maybe it will make me see F1 with different eyes.
Comments
There's no team that captures that Minardi passion but I guess I have a soft spot for Williams and Team Lotus.
Being Australian, I take interest in Webber and Ricciardo, and admire the skills of drivers such as Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel, and Button, and so forth, but few of them are worthy of the term 'support'. In fact this year particularly has shown most of them in a poor light as far as their approach to the sport is concerned. Probably the only one who can hold his head high in the top echelon would be Button, with some grudging kudos to Webber for at least holding his hand up when he's responsible for things that didn't go well.
Back to the teams, and here is how I would view them:
HRT - Lacks the spirit of Minardi and without that are simply an embarassment
Virgin - Shameless, blameless, and just not in any way interesting. Sir Richard screwed up. He should've stayed with Brawn/Mercedes, if in fact that was an option. Now it's Marussia Virgin. Who can take emotional equity in that rubbish?
Lotus - At least they give it a go, but the fighting over the remnants of Colin Chapman's carcass leaves me cold.
Williams - Talk about lost your way. This is the hit TV series that went on for a couple of seasons too long. Sir Frank is a true motor racer, that's for sure, but what is the real story behind the slide? Is Patrick seniley scuppering the engineering team? Was Sam Michel just an idiot, and if so, how did he stay around so long? Whatever it is, a fine team, with a great history now looks a mess, and has a messy lead driver. What a waste. Kimi will cause the slide to accelerate is my view.
Torro Rosso - No. Not now, not ever. They have no reason to be and whilst I am pleased that the guys who have been there the whole time can feel better that they are more like contenders, they have the Red Bull aura of being a driver churn. How can those talented young guys perform when they have to constantly look over their shoulder. That's not a team.
Force India - give it another 5 years and I'll start taking Indian motor sports history seriously. In the meantime, bland, political, and unsupportable
Renault - It is Renault isn't it??? I tend to like this team more than the others because they really do seem to have some team spirit and were prepared to take a big gamble on the car this year. On the downside is the nonsense surrounding the drivers. Their approach to this is starting to look like Red bull. Bring back Flav and maybe they could be my team (as long as there are no Aussies racing of course).
Mercedes - Only Germans could do so badly and still look down their noses at everybody else. Still, it's been worth it to see the de-mything of Schumaker. That's one legend that has stopped dead in its tracks.
Ferrari - I actually wish they would depart F1. Sure, the whole thing would take a big, big hit. The fan base would drop hugely, and that would impact revenues across the board. May even bring the whole show down to a much lower financial level. But would that stop real technological innovation? I think not. It might mean that you don't have three guys on every corner of the car to change a tyre. Might even mean that millions of dollars worth of incremental drag reduction wouldn't happen. But i reckon you would see real drivers, doing real driving, in real cars, with the emphasis equally on man and machine (cause that aint where the ratio sits right now). So they can go screw a pig as far as I'm concerned. Their political impact is not proportional to their contribution for my money.
MacLaren - Again, a fine team with a fine history, but they stopped being interesting a long time ago. They are just a product of the environment now, and somehow the cold, clinical look of their paint job says so much about the personality of the team.
Red Bull - No. and the clock is ticking. They've hit the top, but if you could see the constructors championship score at this time in 2013, I think that they will be back to where they were in 2008. No heart; no history; no support.
Lots of love.......
All comments are correct.
Owning an old Lotus, (and having officially visited the car and F1 factory), I support Team Lotus, BUT wished they had gone back to Ketteringham Hall, built a few new sheds and gained a bit (umm LOT) more credibility. Heiki is doing a great job, Jarno, I'm not so sure.
Im not sure how i'll feel when its Caterham F1?
Renault Lotus is just a marketing ploy - no love there.
I think Mark has had his day, and not getting 2nd in the championship is hugely disappointing. I don't know why his starts were so bad, especially after years of racing all types of cars on all different types of tyres??? I wonder if he has tried vettels tub yet???
I'd love to see Daniel do well. Like Jenson's aura (who on this earth names their son Jenson). Shoemaker was always an evil villain (F13), Kubica, would have been interesting to see where the team were if he drove for the year. Red Bull, make a road car to gain some cred. Amazed HRT has survived, but need teams like that.
This year has been interesting, but innovation is getting harder and harder.
I really can't be arsed.
Have an interest in Webber and Ricciardo and for some reason MS.
Just watched the Senna movie (with my wife!!!) and she liked it!!!!!! I miss the racing in those days and the characters not so much the fashion.
My wife's comment was about how team mates want to beat each other first then the other teams.
I really liked the antics between Webber and Vettel last year. This year there is nothing, just boring.
STR because they are (or were) in fact Minardi. I didn't like them in 2006. They became interresting again when they offered two places to Sebastian Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel in late 2007 and 2008 season. After Bourdais had to leave and was replaced by Algersuari I think that was because of the pressure you got in a Rad Bull based team. They had a pretty decent car this year, some good placings and some okay drivers. I kinda follow them but it depends on what they are currently doing.
HRT because it was founded by Adrian Campos and a few of former Minardi-guys are or were involved in their short hisory. Gabriele Tredozi at Dallara designed the F110 which was there first car ever. And Dallara is known for good racing cars except formula one, the F111 is also based on that car. Luis Perez-Sala recently became an adviser there and now they got Pedro DeLarosa for the next season. It is also one of the only south-european teams. Also I am german and alot of things are here (like the F112 in Munich).
I have to agree with the other teams as Lease already wrote:
Renault put themself on the grass because of the drivers. I would have liked a Heidfeld/Senna-combination better than Senna replacing Heidfeld for 2012. Or Senna/Grosjean.
I never really liked the other teams. McLaren and (especially, even for a german) are to much motorsport-business. Williams had a few bad cars except the last season and I don't think it's going to be that much better soon (even with a Renault Motor). Caterham is okay, I am kinda neutral on them. Sauber is as strong as they were before BMW came in, I am also neutral on them. Never really liked ForceIndia, also alot motorsport-business (look on the sponsors they got). RedBull and TOIT are too much money in my mind.
I have to say I liked Honda/Brawn and SuperAguri but it all stopped too soon.
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Toro Rosso I like to see them do well but know that Red Bull will never let them be much more. I did like that Red Bull was able to take out the big names last year but now their domination and spending is too much like Ferrari.
HRT and Marussia are not even worth my time but Caterham have been more impressive, unfortunately the whole naming row has put me off of them for now. That goes for Renault too as well as their current handling of Kubica. I want to see him come back, but maybe he does indeed need to leave Renault to have a chance at anything.
Would love to see MS win another one at this juncture but I don't think he or Mercedes really have it to jump the top 3. Williams, Force India, and Sauber are just midfield runners that I care for slightly more than HRT/Marussia based on their seniority.
Hoping that 2012 is different.
Presuming that moto GP and V8 Supercars are still on at COTA?
All that work and now no F1 for '12. Just seems that there is something missing from the picture here.
So, cars at the moment leave me even more indifferent. Heart would be with Williams, but I would rather prefer Frank to close rather than keeping up in F1 to end the championship with 5 points.
Quite like Sauber as well, for their history, even though they are pretty dull now.
And would have never wanted to hear the Lotus name back again.
Caterham will be Sonangol sponsored, apparently, next year. In theory, lots and lots of money, see if they can keep progressing and getting to the level of Williams.....!!!
Deadline was today and Bernie has extended it for another week. So it sounds like they are working it out, I don't see Bernie extended deadlines just because.
I have also read that if Bahrain continues to be uncertain as well as South Korea with its problems, losing a third race would not be good for the F1 brand. Though F1 has bounced back from many scandals and problems so that may not be much of an issue.
You know, the next pilgrimage to Les Payee Bas is due next year; probably around Easter. Maybe I'll go this time and show my face to the family since I haven't been for 4 years.
What do you say to another catch up? Maybe get Vigar off his arse as well?
We could do London again of course, but would be up for alternatives. Worth thinking about RJ?
The Austin GP, anyway, sounds like the usual Bernie's US half-baked affair, but then again I thought the same about Korea and India as well.
RJ, Clewlis has an attitude in my opinion, he tries to get the position. Many times this year he's gon over the top mostly out of frustration, but still I like his daring and aggressivity, and him and Massa side by side at the Montecarlo tunnel is one of the best image I remember of the last few years.
I'll let you know when/if I will be going. Good restaurants in Brussels.